2008 CAA FOOTBALL PREVIEW: JAMES MADISON DUKES
Mickey Matthews begins his 10th JMU year expecting his team to stay among the elite in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision. The Dukes in 2007 made their third playoff appearance in four years, and many of the key players from that 8-4 squad that lost only to FCS playoff teams and a Football Bowl Subdivision team return.
JMU has 15 starters among its 46 expected returning lettermen and achieved last season’s success with a young squad. The Dukes are 37-13 overall and 33-11 in the regular season the last four years.
“Last year we over-achieved for as many young players as we had and considering that our top offensive threat went out after two games,” said Matthews, who is 64-44 at JMU since 1999. “With as many players as we return, we anticipate that we should have a good football team, but we have some question marks.”
Matthews’ major question is linebacker, where only one experienced player returns. Among the positives is the return of senior tailback Eugene Holloman, the aforementioned “top offensive threat,” who missed most of 2007 with a knee injury after being first-team all-league in 2006. Holloman ran for 180 yards in two 2007 games after having 1,085 yards and eight touchdowns in 10 2006 games.
Return Holloman to a squad that lost only nine players from its first and second units of a year ago and Matthews’ optimism appears justified.
JMU lost three offensive and four defensive starters and has seven returning all-league players. The key loss was free safety Tony LeZotte, the CAA defender of the year and the conference’s initial four-time, first-team all-league performer and four-time All-America. LeZotte had a team-high 95 tackles in 2007 and 416 for his career.
The top returning offensive starters are senior center Scott Lemn (All-CAA first team), senior quarterback Rodney Landers (second team) and senior tackle Terrence Apted (third team). Other offensive starters back are junior guard Dorian Brooks, junior wide receiver Rockeed McCarter, junior fullback/tight end Charlie Newman, sophomore tackle Theo Sherman, and sophomore tailback Griff Yancey.
Returning defensive starters are senior end Hassan Abdul-Wahid (second-team All-CAA), senior cornerback Evan McCollough (second team), senior linebacker D.J. Brandon, junior tackle Sam Daniels, senior safety Marcus Haywood, senior cornerback Darrieus Ramsey, and junior lineman J.D. Skolnitsky.
The Dukes also have returning all-league players in senior placekicker Dave Stannard (second) and senior punter Jason Pritchard (third).
Gone in addition to LeZotte are wide receiver/return specialist L.C. Baker (third-team All-CAA), offensive guard Vernon Eason, tight end Marvin Brown, defensive tackle John Baranowsky (first-team All-CAA, College Sporting News All-America), linebacker Justin Barnes (second-team All-CAA), and safety Nick Adams.
JMU in 2007 averaged 33.3 points and 410.0 yards (265.1 rushing, 144.9 passing) and allowed 22.1 points and 324.2 yards (126.6 rushing, 197.6 passing). The Dukes were 6-2 in the CAA and got an at-large bid to the NCAA playoffs, where they fell 28-27 at eventual national champion Appalachian State in the first round.
JMU finished 2007 ranked seventh nationally by the FCS’s coaches and 12th by The Sports Network and has been among the national top 25 by The Sports Network in 50 of 53 polls since early in 2004.
JMU will play one of the FCS’s top schedules, opening at FBS member Duke and facing four 2007 FCS playoff teams. Playoff participants Massachusetts and Appalachian State visit JMU during consecutive September weekends, and JMU goes to playoff participant Richmond in October and hosts playoff participant Delaware in November.
New on CAASports.com this season is The CAA Football Pressbox. Located as a button on the homepage as well as in the menus down the left-hand side of the football page, The Pressbox is the official source for all CAA Football information. Check The Pressbox
each week for updated team-by-team weekly releases, two-deep charts,
league and team stats as well as other "media-type" information. CAA
Football plans to archive the conference's weekly releases throughout
the 2008 season, in addition to archiving each team's home-game
flipcards in a printer-friendly format. Also available on the site are
coach and player pictures and each team's logo and helmet illustration.
Check The Pressbox every week to find in-depth information that all CAA Football fans can't live without.